Well. it was fun while it lasted....

Jean and Tom finally got to take a trip to Europe, thanks to Jean's role as a Local Coordinator with CIEE, the exchange student program.  Jean spent a weekend at their conference in Munich, while Tom went to Kitzbuhel, Austria for some well deserved skiing.  We then headed off to Vienna, Olomouc CZ, Prague, and Berlin.  Highlights included:

• Meeting up with Paul and his business partners who are trying to get the solar technology funded and started in Munich and/or Dresden
• Skiing - in the Alps!
• Many old churches
• Stepping off the train in Olomouc to see Ludvik standing right there
• Warm hospitality of the Hajeks
• Tours of Olomouc and Prague that you simply couldn't buy
• Meeting Malte's parents
• The Reichstag at night
• Real snow

Lessons learned:

• Skiing can sometimes lead to wrist fractures
• 10 minutes with the phone triage nurse beats going to a hospital in a foreign country
• You can still ski with a broken wrist!
• We packed way too much suff.
• OK, a little snow is great, but 12 straight days of cold weather gets a little annoying during a vacation.
• The Czech word for both "winter" and "cold" is "zima"
• While it sucks to get a 4:30 AM phone call that your son has been in an accident, learning everyone's OK kinda cancels that out.

See the pix in the Gallery .

Thanks to CIEE, the Hajek's, the Voelkoi's, and especially the Meme!